Beholding the Glory of God in Christ

The Glory of God Revealed

Reflections on Christ’s Sacrifice and Exaltation

How Jesus Makes God Known to Us

In Hebrews 1:3, we read, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven." This verse is a powerful declaration of who Christ is and how He perfectly reveals the glory of God. In Christ, the invisible God becomes visible. Everything about Christ—His life, death, resurrection, and exaltation—reveals to us what God is like.

Matthew Henry beautifully comments on this passage, saying, “The apostle begins with a lofty description of the person of Christ, his glory and dignity, his relation to the Father, and the work he has done for us. God the Father is the fountain of all being, and all perfection; God the Son is the full and flat resemblance of his Father’s glory.” Christ doesn’t just reflect God's glory as a mirror would; He radiates it from His very being. In Him, we see the fullness of God’s nature displayed in human form.

Charles Spurgeon, reflecting on the glory of Christ, once preached, “Jesus, in all His offices, exhibits the glory of God. He that hath seen Him hath seen the Father. As the truth of God is most plainly revealed in Christ, so is the mercy of God most sweetly made manifest in Him.” Christ's life is a window through which we can gaze upon the character of God. His compassion, His justice, His mercy, and His power all point to the grandeur of the Almighty.

It is in the sacrificial love of Christ that we see the glory of God shining most brightly. Spurgeon once remarked, “Christ loved you before all worlds; long ere the day-star flung his ray across the darkness, before the wings of angels had flapped the unnavigated ether, before aught of creation had struggled from the womb of nothingness, God, even our God, had set His heart upon all His children.” It was this eternal love that led Christ to the cross, where He bore the full weight of our sins, revealing both the depths of God’s justice and the heights of His mercy.

When Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, He was not only securing our redemption but also manifesting the glory of God in a way that nothing else could. The cross, which to the world may seem like a place of shame and defeat, is in reality the greatest display of God’s glory. As Hebrews 1:3 reminds us, after Christ had purged our sins, He "sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." His work was finished, His victory complete, and His exaltation secured. 

Matthew Henry further reflects on this, stating, “Here is the glory of the gospel, that He who was the brightness of His Father's glory, and the express image of His person, was employed to bring back a lost world to God.” In Christ, we see the glory of God’s redemptive plan unfolded before us. The radiance of God’s glory shines brightest in the face of Jesus Christ, who, in His humility, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8).

As we reflect on these truths, let us be moved to worship. The glory of God, so perfectly revealed in Christ, calls us to respond with awe and reverence. Spurgeon rightly said, “The more you know about Christ, the less will you be satisfied with superficial views of Him; and the more deeply you study His transactions in the eternal covenant, His engagements on your behalf as the eternal Surety, and the fullness of His grace which shines in all His offices, the more truly will you see the King in His beauty.”

In Christ, we are given the privilege to behold the glory of God, not from a distance, but intimately, as those who have been redeemed by His blood. The more we gaze upon Christ, the more we are transformed by His glory. As 2 Corinthians 3:18 reminds us, “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

May our lives be a reflection of this glory, as we continually look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Let us live in such a way that others might see the glory of God in us, pointing them to the Savior who reveals God’s glory most clearly.